Aussie sheep farmers seek help from NZ

A sheep farming practice has sparked calls for an international
boycott of Australian merino wool and has prompted Australia to
seek help from New Zealand.

Mulesing involves the clipping of skin and wool off the back end
of a sheep to prevent fly-strike and animal rights activists say it
is barbaric. They have enlisted international popstar Pink to their
cause and she has brought international attention to the widespread
practice.

"The wool trade uses methods so sadistic that it makes you want
to clear your closet," says Pink.

But a new type of sheep being bred in the South Island might end
up saving the Australian wool industry from the public relations
disaster.

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"It has been a shock to the Australian industry...it really
rattled them," says AgResearch scientist David Scobie who has been
working on a kinder alternative.

Scobie used to watch his own father mulesing sheep and nine
years ago he started breeding a sheep that could be spared the
'barbaric" ordeal.

"That's one of the wonderful things about the sheep gene,
there's so many traits around and we saw them one day and tried to
bolt them together."

The so-called ultimate sheep looks no different from the top but
underneath they are born with wool all over them which they then
shed. The sleek look is a natural cure for fly strike.

Flies lay maggots which can kill a sheep in three days and if
fly strike is prevented then there is no need to slice into the
animals.

"It's only going to improve their welfare so we certainly
welcome any research into breeding sheep that don't have these
woolly areas," says activist Hans Krief.

And as Pink's young fans flex their consumer muscles the Aussies
are suddenly clamouring for Scobie's invention.

"I flew straight over there to a crisis meeting and worked out a
way forward."

The industry claims very few New Zealand farmers still use
mulesing.

"Merino farmers used to use it in New Zealand but there was a
huge incentive to abandon it and there are price incentives out
there now for un-mulesed wool," says Scobie.

Animal rights activists agree mulesing is not as widespread in
New Zealand as in Australia but Krief says it still affects around
700 sheep each year.